Automatic gate for elevator-wells



No. 624,952. Patented May'IB, I899. W. T. LISENBY &. A..R. BALDWIN.AUTOMATIC GATEFOB ELEVATOR WELLS.

July 26, 1897 (No Nuclei.)

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WV ILLIAM THOMAS LISENBY AND ALFRED RITCHIE BALDWIN, OF SPRING- FIELD,MISSOURI.

AUTOMATIC GATE FOR ELEVATOR-WELLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 624,952, dated May 16,1899. Application filed July 26, 1897- Serial No. 645,944. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM THOMAS LISENBY and ALFRED RITCHIE BALDWIN,residing at Springfield, in the county of Greene and State of Missouri,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Gates forElevator-Wells;- and we do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

Our invention relates to automatic gates for freight-elevator wells.

Our object is to provide a gate of simple and cheap construction whichwill be automatically opened by the elevator-car when ascending andapproaching the landing and whichwill automatically close after theelevator-car has left the landing, whereby the landing will beprotected, so that it will be impossible for persons employed about theelevator-well to fall down the same.

The invent-ion consists of an automatic gate A ing, disclosing ourimprovedgate and a sec-- tion of the elevator-car adapted to operate thesame. Fig. 2 is a detail view showing the catch mechanism and thelifting-arm, and

' Fig. 3 is a detailed view showing the shifting and adjacent to onecorner of the elevatorcar, said rope having its lower end fastened at 7and its upper end passed over a pulley and provided with afreely-depending weight 8, the purpose of which is to keep the said'rope taut at all times. On said rope there is located a sleeve orbutton 9 at a suitable height above the landing. A bell-crank lever 10is pivoted to the gate and has a hook 11 at the end of one of its arms,which loosely receives the rope 6,which is adapted to normally bearagainst the button 9, whereby the horizontal arm of said lever is keptnormally elevated slightly by the action of the weight 8. A swinginglever 12 has its upper end pivoted to the gate and depends from said pivotal point. A connecting-rod 13 runs from the lower end of the swinginglever to the vertical arm of the bell-crank lever 10' and passes looselythrough a swiveled button 14, said rod being provided with nuts 15 and16 on opposite sides of said button foradjusting the length of the rod13.

The numeral 17 designates a slide-catch having a U-shaped end 18, whichembraces the swinging lever and is pivoted thereto, one end of saidcatch being beveled at 19. The other end works through a guide 20,connected with the gate, and has a roller 21 at its extremity, whichbears against the upright at the side of the elevator-well as the gateascends a-nd descends. A lifting-arm 22, having a beveled or inclinedend 23, is carried by the elevator-car, and said beveled end is adaptedto engage with the free beveled arm of the slide-catch when theelevator-car rises and swinging lever movedhorizontally. This brings thefree end of the slide-catch in line with the lifting-arm on theelevator-car, and said lifting-arm thereupon engages with theslide-catch and raises the same, which causes the gate to be lifteduntil the roller of the catch lies immediately below the trippingcam, atwhich time the elevator-car is at the landing and the gate is opened. Asthe elevator-car ascends beyond the landing the roller rides on thetripping-cam, thereby disengaging the slide-catch from the lifting-arm,and the gate then drops slowly by gravity. Should the elevator-cardescend from the landing after having arrived thereat, thegate willfollow the elevator-car down by itsown gravity and the arm of thebell-crank lever will be held slightly elevated by the rope 6, so thatthe slide-catch is held normally retracted. Unless, therefore, thepull-rope is actuated the slide-catch remains out of the path ofmovement of the lifting-arm, and hence the gate will not be raised. Whenthe elevator-car descends to the landing, the gate remains closed.Therefore, as the gate is lifted by hand, as it leaves the landing theslidecatch drops into the path of the lifting-arm,

and as the gate is raised the free beveled end of the catch 19 ridesover the beveled part of the lifting-arm 23 and drops in above saidlifting-arm, thus holding the gate open.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a movable gate, of a catch thereon, anelevator-car, a lifter thereon adapted to engage with the catch, andmeans for keeping said catch normally retracted out of the path ofmovement of the lifter, said means being capable of government from theelevator-car to cause the catch to lie in the path of movement of saidelevator-car.

2. The combination with a movable gate, of a catch thereon, anelevator-car, a lifter thereon adapted to engage with the catch, meansfor keeping said catch normally retracted out of the path of movement ofthe lifter,-said means being capable of government from the elevator-carto cause the catch to lie in the path of movement of said elevator-car,and a trip adapted to break the engagement of the catch with the lifterwhen the gate is opened and the elevator-car has passed beyond the samewhereby the gate is permitted to close.

3. In a device of the class described, the

combination with a gravity-actuated gate and a movable catch thereon, ofan elevator-car, a lifter thereon adapted to engage with the catch, apull-rope located adjacent to the elevator-car and engaging with andadapted to hold the, catch normally retracted out of the path ofmovementof the litter, and a trip adapted to engage with the catch and retractthe same out of engagement with the lifter after the elevator-car hasascended beyond said gate whereby the gate is released and permitted toclose by gravity.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination with a gate, of aslide-catch thereon, a lever operatively connected with the slide-catch,and constantly exerting a tendency to project the same into operativeposition, an elevator-car, a litter carried thereby, a pull-rope, andmeans for drawing the same intone direction, and said rope having adevice adapted to normally engage with the lever aforesaid whereby theslide-catch is kept retracted, and a trip adapted to'engage with theslide-catch after the elevator-car has passed beyond the landing, theretraction of said pull cord'or rope releasing the lever and causing aprojection of the slide-catch into the path of movement of the lifter.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination with avertically-movable gate, of a counterbalancing device therefor, aswinging lever pivoted to the gate, a slidecatch pivoted tothe lever andprovided with a roller on its end, a bell-crank lever pivoted to thecatch and'provided with a hook on the end of one arm, a connecting-rodleading from the other arm to the free end of the swinging lever, anelevator-car, a lifter-arm carried thereby adapted to engage with theslidecatch, a pull-rope having one end secured and its other endprovided with a freely-dependin g weight whereby it is maintained tautat all times, said pull-rope passing through the hook on the bell-cranklover, a button on said rope adapted to engage with the arm on thebellcrank lever and to hold the same raised whereby the catch isnormally held in retracted position, and a trip adapted to engage withthe roller after the gate has been opened and the elevator-car hasascended beyond the landing, said pull-rope when actuated releasing thebell-crank lever and permitting the projection of the catch into thepath of the lifter.

In, testimony whereof we have signed this specification in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM THOMAS LISENBY. ALFRED RITCHIE BALDWIN.

Witnesses:

LoUIs W. LAPHAM, W. C. RAMSAY.

